Politics

Kaiser Forced to Repay Small Businesses for Overcharging

October 4, 2011 by Calitics

by Brian Leubitz

Kaiser is something of a mixed bag.  They get some good press for focusing on areas that help to reduce health care costs, preventative care, that sort of thing.  On the flip side, they are usually somewhere in the background on lobbying efforts, killing any attempts to make health care insurance more consumer friendly in California.

Well, today's news is more on the dark side.  It turns out that they've been overcharging small business customers and not really providing the data to back it up:

Kaiser Permanente has retroactively rolled back rate increases that went into effect for small businesses on July 1 by 1.2 percent.

The welcomed - albeit small - bit of news for thousands of  California enrollees comes after a bit of wrangling with the state regulators.

Kaiser in April had proposed a 10.7 percent rate hikes for the bulk of its small business customers. The state Department of Managed Health Care, armed with a new law that allows them to scrutinize actuarial data behind the rate filings, pushed back.

"We've been  concerned about the lack of data they provided to support their trends and we requested they reduce their rates," said department spokeswoman Lynne Randolph.

The new increase of 9.5 percent translates into a total savings of $13.5 million, Randolph said.

Supreme Court Hears Medi-Cal

October 3, 2011 by Calitics

by Brian Leubitz

The United States Supreme Court opened up its 2011-2012 term, and oh yeah, they're talking California:

The Supreme Court began a new term Monday by refereeing a major healthcare dispute to decide whether cash-strapped states like California can cut their Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals who serve low-income patients.
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Lawyers for California and the Obama administration urged the court to rule that Medicaid is a "voluntary" effort to provide medical care for the poor and that disputes over funding should be resolved by healthcare officials in Sacramento and Washington, not by federal judges in San Francisco.
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Day 2 of Occupy Burque: Activities Continue

October 2, 2011 by Democracy for N...

Camp out area at UNM, Occupy Burque

The occupations continue. According to by Lora Lucero on Facebook, about a dozen young people spent the night of October 1 camped out near the corner of Central and University Avenue in Albuquerque after the day's demonstrations. Taking turns, they plan to occupy the space for the foreseeable future.

Photos/Videos: Occupy Albuquerque in Solidarity With Occupy Wall Street

October 1, 2011 by Democracy for N...

Click for photo album